ANGUILLA, B.W.I – November 20, 2013 – As part of the ongoing initiatives to promote and strengthen Anguilla’s presence in the North American market, the Anguilla Tourist Board, in conjunction with its North American sales and marketing and public relations firm, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications (CAMC) hosted a media tour from November 4th to 8th, 2013, in the key markets of New York City and Toronto.
Director of Tourism, Mrs. Candis Niles and CAMC representative, Ms. Christina Baez met directly with New York editors and journalists to promote the island of Anguilla. A number of desk side meetings were arranged with editors and publishers from leading lifestyle publications, including Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Departures, Wine Spectator, Cigar Aficionado, TravelSquire.com and Brides magazine. The Anguilla representatives also hosted a VIP media dinner at New York’s trendy STK Midtown restaurant. Freelance and staff writers from the publications Forbes Life, American Spa, Redbook, CNN, OUT Magazine, BET.com, Ladies Home Journal, Huffington Post, Tripwich and The Griot heard the latest news from Anguilla in an intimate relaxed setting.
In Toronto, Mrs. Niles was joined by CAMC representatives, Jennifer Johnson and Dale Pushing to host a VIP dinner at the elegant One Restaurant with freelance writers and media from leading Canadian publications Elle Canada, Travel Week, Sheknows.com, Travel Courier, Ship2Shore TV, Travel + Escape, Canadian Living, MSN.ca and Bold magazine. The Anguilla team showcased the island using visuals from the brand new Powerpoint presentation, supplemented by brief but comprehensive presentations from each team member aimed at establishing relationships and keeping the media abreast of everything Anguilla has to offer to the very important and growing Canadian travel market.
The media were informed of the latest happenings on island including upcoming spring and summer 2014 events, the progress of hotel developments such as the much-anticipated relaunch of Malliouhana Hotel – An Auberge Resort, the new development of the Reef Resort by CuisinArt Golf Resort and Spa, new flight options into the island and upcoming on-island festivals, among other news and developments of the island. Media guests received the new Anguilla-branded items, a digital copy of the Anguilla press kit and more as a take home reminder of Anguilla -Tranquility Wrapped in Blue.
The media tour event was deemed a resounding success with direct coverage already appearing in a number of publications, both print and on-line, including Travel Agent Central’s Caribbean newsletter and Canadian travel magazine Travel Courier. Further coverage in the Travel Agent magazine as well as other publications is also forthcoming.
“Given the highly competitive nature of the tourism industry, we thought it was important to undertake an event like this to ensure that Anguilla is the top of mind destination for media and influencers in our most important tourism markets,” noted Niles. “This media tour proved to be very successful as many of the editors we spoke with had either been to Anguilla at some point in the past, and needed a reason to reconnect, or had placed Anguilla on their bucket list of must-do islands. Being able to sit down and chat with them face to face was an invaluable opportunity to answer the question, “Why Anguilla?” As a result of this tour we are looking forward to working more closely with these important media partners to position Anguilla in the marketplace as the premier, upmarket, quality vacation destination for discerning and aspirational travelers to the Caribbean.”
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
